Birthday
by apicturewithasmile
Summary: Daniel doesn't want to make a big fuzz out of his birthday but Vala has other plans...


_Author's note: This is the first fanfiction I wrote since I was 16 (24 now). So it feels like it's the first ever. It will also probably be a one-off. Also English is not my first language so excuse the grammatical flaws._

* * *

It was 6:30 in the morning and his alarm went off because he'd forgotten to turn it off before he went to bed. Even though he didn't want to take the day off work he thought he could at least allow himself one more hour of sleep. It was his birthday after all. He didn't celebrate it in years and never made a fuzz out of it and he intended to keep it that way. Still an hour of extra sleep was his way of saying "Happy birthday, Daniel!"

* * *

He re-set the alarm to 7:30, rolled over and snuggled back into his blanket but he couldn't sleep any longer.

The shower was nice. He relaxed, he thought of nothing when suddenly he heard it. THAT voice. Vala's voice. And it was way too close.

"What are you doing in the men's room, Vala?"

"Looking for you, birthday boy!" she answered cheekily.

"Oh how do you know, for f-"

"Mitchell told me!"

Vala was just about to draw the curtains of Daniel's shower cabin when she felt the touch of a hand on her shoulder. A strong touch.

"Vala, bloody hell, if I have to tell you once again that you're not supposed to be here, I'll lose it!" It was Mitchell.

Vala gave him a smile and stuck her tongue out before she left.

"Thanks!" Daniel said behind the shower curtain.

"Yeah… no problem. It's annoying me, too. Anyway… Sunshine, it's your birthday! Congrats and stuff!"

Daniel frowned. "Thanks but…. Please tell me you didn't plan anything!"

"Plan what?"

"Like a party or something… I really-"

"Oh… oh no…. nothing like that…." Mitchell said whilst entering the shower cabin next to Daniel's.

"Thank God!"

For a moment the two men were quiet. Only the sound of flowing water filled the room.

"You _did_ plan something, didn't you?" Daniel asked again suspiciously.

"NO! I didn't…. Vala did."

* * *

Daniel was more than annoyed. He wanted to get some work done today yet there was some sort of surprise birthday party waiting for him. And because Mitchell refused to tell him anything more about it he didn't even know when or where the party would be. That's mainly the reason why Daniel hated surprise parties. He spent the whole morning awaiting people to jump up from behind tables and doors and freak the hell out of him.

It wasn't until the afternoon when he entered the team meeting room for a briefing – at least that's what he thought would happen – when the not so surprising surprise party began. People did in fact jump up from underneath the table and out of Landry's office. Paper garlands decorated the window facing the gate-room and the whole room was covered in birthday balloons which had things like "Happy Birthday!" written on them and "Happy 60th!"

_Wait…. What?_ Daniel thought and then he looked closer at the other balloons – they all had different numbers on them.

"I forgot which birthday it was when I bought the balloons so I just picked some random numbers!" Vala said, wearing a party hat on her black hair and skipping towards Daniel with a second party hat at hand.

"Oh no, you're not going to put that on my head!" Daniel yelled and backed off.

"Oh come on. Everyone's wearing one." Vala said. "Even Teal'c!"

Daniel looked across the room where he found the rather strange sight of a Jaffa with a blue glittery cone on his head. _Just when you think you've seen it all…_

Daniel gave up and put the hat on. There was cake and champagne on the table – enough to serve everyone at Stargate Command but only about a dozen people were there. There was SG1 obviously and General Landry, Walter was there as well as Dr. Lam and Dr. Lee and a bunch of other personnel.

"General O'Neill couldn't make it but he sends his regards!" Sam said after congratulating Daniel, still hugging him.

"And he did mention that he'd appreciate you keeping a piece of the cake for him." Teal'c added.

By that time Daniel accepted his fate. He wouldn't – at least not yet – admit that he actually enjoyed the little gathering, the cake, the decorations, everything – even the ridiculous hats.

The party went on for about an hour until Landry demanded to have his meeting room back because SG5 would soon be back from their mission and he needed a place for debriefing.

Most of the people had already left anyway after delivering their congratulations and having their fair share of cake and alcohol. Only SG1 was left.

"Well, Daniel, I think an hour isn't long enough to celebrate you having been being born. Why don't we grab that last bottle of champagne and head over to your office?" Mitchell suggested.

* * *

In Daniel's office they cleared a table from papers and artefacts, collected some chairs from other labs and offices and continued with their celebrations.

"Well, I must say…. This is nice. Thank you, guys!" Daniel finally confessed.

"Don't thank us, thank Vala! It was all her idea!" Sam said and Vala nodded demandingly.

Daniel smiled at her from across the table. "Okay. Thank you, Vala!"

There was silence for a moment, then Sam jumped up from her table. "The present!"

"What?"

"I forgot the present in my room. Wait, I'll get it!" she said and ran away.

"You didn't really get me presents, did you?" Daniel said pale-faced.

"Oh no, I didn't." Cameron said and laughed.

Teal'c looked surprised. "I fear I didn't bring a present as well, Daniel Jackson. I didn't know I was supposed to."

"That's fine. It's fine. I…. God, this has already been more than enough!"

"I'll give you mine later! In private!" Vala said, leaning over the table and winking at Daniel suggesting her present to be of a more adult nature.

Daniel was just about to ward her advances off when Sam came back holding a wooden box. "Sorry, Daniel, I didn't have time to wrap it."

"What is it?"

"Well, open!"

Daniel hesitated for a bit but then slid open the little metal lock and opened the box.

"….so?" Vala said trying to have a look at the content. "What is it?"

"It's…. pictures." Daniel said and hugged Sam.

"Pictures?" Vala was a bit disappointed.

"Yes. I was going through a lot of old photo albums and files actually and I found these from a couple of our very early missions. I made copies for myself but I wanted you to have the originals. Actually I think you're the one who _took_ most of them." Sam said.

"That is so…. So sweet. Thank you."

"Yes very sweet but are we gonna look at them now or what?" Vala demanded and took the box away from Daniel.

He was just about to protest when she already picked a photo from the unsorted pile. "WHAT is THIS?!" she said and held up the photo. It showed SG1 – that is SG1 when Jack was still a member – in what seemed like very weird clothes to her. "What kind of mission was that?"

Mitchell took the photo and laughed for what seemed like minutes.

"Yeah that's us after coming back from 1969."

"A planet?" Vala asked.

"No… the year. We… we travelled back in time. Accidentally! And…this was the style back then." Daniel explained.

"Okay, fair enough." Vala said. "Still that doesn't explain what the hell was wrong with your hair!"

Again Daniel accepted the inevitable and so they went through all the pictures telling Vala and Cameron about the circumstances in which they were taken. Even though Cam had read all mission files it was still fun hearing it from Sam, Teal'c and Daniel.

* * *

"Oh, here's another one of young Daniel with the crazy long hair again! Who's the lady next to you?" Vala said and showed him the picture she was referring to.

Daniel, who was just reminiscing with Sam about the time they found "King" Maybourne on another planet, looked up and his smile faded. "That… That's Sha're. My wife."

Everyone in the room went silent.

"Come on. That's ages ago. I'm alright. Come on, show me the picture." Daniel said trying to act all cool.

"I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't remember it was in there." Sam said with a very pitiful look on her face that hurt Daniel even more than seeing the picture itself.

"No, that's…. that's fine. It's fine." But it wasn't.

Vala didn't know what to say. She had seen a picture of Sha're before but she didn't recognise her in this one.

"That must have been just after you came back to Abydos. That's Kasuf in the background." Daniel finally succeeded in holding back the tears and looked into Vala's enquiring eyes. "My father-in-law." he added and Vala responded by nodding eagerly and putting the picture back in the box, taking out another one in exchange.

Daniel acknowledged that she tried changing the subject though he didn't feel it was necessary. They went back to remembering anecdotes again. They laughed a lot and it was getting late so eventually they finished the last bit of champagne and went to their rooms.

* * *

Back in his room alone Daniel realised that he actually enjoyed his birthday for the first time since he was a little boy. The box with the photos was lying on his bedside table and he couldn't resist opening it again to get that picture of him and Sha're out. Daniel looked at it for a long time. He wouldn't even have noticed he was crying if it hadn't been for the tear that landed on the photograph. And it would have started a flood of tears if there hadn't been someone knocking on his door.

Daniel wiped away the tears from his cheeks and put the picture on the bedside table.

"Who's it?"

"It's me.", he recognised Vala's voice filtered through the door.

Daniel didn't answer.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes, sure. Come in." And she did.

"Hey there." she smiled and sat down next to him in his bed.

"What do you want?" Daniel said sounding a lot more annoyed than he actually was to see her.

"I still have a present for you. Remember? I didn't want the others to see."

Daniel closed his eyes. "Oh, what is it, Vala?" This time he in fact was as annoyed as he sounded.

"Keep your eyes closed."

Daniel opened them again.

"Oh, Daniel, trust me! Close your eyes!" And although hesitant he did so. Vala took his hand which was resting on his leg and put something in his palm, covering it with his other hand. It felt cold, like metal.

"Okay. You can open your eyes now."

Daniel did so and looked into her excited eyes that were wide open, then he looked down at his hands which still covered whatever it was Vala put there.

"And now?" he asked.

"Look!"

Daniel opened his hands and in there was a little metallic thing that looked like a Goa'uld hologram device.

"Oh shoot!" Vala said angrily. "Why is it off now?" She took it away from him and turned it on. "Sorry, it was meant to be turned on."

Daniel didn't care. What he saw was beautiful and took his breath away. It was indeed a hologram that spread out in his entire room filling it with what looked like a million stars. A whole galaxy probably. But it wasn't the milky-way. At least not as seen from earth.

Daniel felt the need to say something even though he was speechless. "It's… it looks beautiful, but-"

"It's a perfect representation of the Pegasus Galaxy as seen from Atlantis at night." Vala said proudly and quietly added the sidenote that Sam helped her uploading it to the hologram device.

Daniel, even more speechless now, only managed to form a voiceless "Why?" with his lips.

"I know you've been there by now but you could've been there a lot earlier if it wasn't for me. That's my way of saying sorry. Now you can be in Atlantis whenever you want."

The holographic stars still glittered around them and for a while none of the two knew what to say.

"Well…. I'll…. I'll better let you sleep now! I know you and alcohol don't go that well with each other!" Vala said and nudged his arm.

She just reached the door when he asked her to stop.

"I'd really appreciate if you'd stay a little longer." he surprised himself by what he just said.

"O…kay." Vala sat back down on his bed. "Soooo…. What do you wanna do?"

"I don' know, just… just talk." He threw his head back and looked at the ceiling that was covered in a million little lights.

"About what?"

Daniel didn't answer and Vala didn't dare to ask again or propose a topic so they just sat there. Then Vala noticed the picture that leaned against Daniel's bedside lamp. She cleared her throat to gain his attention and pointed at the picture. "Do you wanna talk about her?" she asked.

He gave her a half-smile and took a deep breath. "What do you want to know?"

"Well… everything. What was she like? Was she funny? Do you still think about her a lot? Is it-"

Daniel stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder causing her smile to turn into a more serious face. "I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it. I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place!" she said and looked down at her hands that rested on her knees.

"No. It's fine. Really, it is!" and this time it was!

Daniel began telling Vala how he first met Sha're, how he "accidentally" married her, how she was the most passionate person he's ever known. He told her how she got captured and turned into a Goa'uld. He told her everything and Vala listened for hours.

"There are good days and bad days, Vala. But the more time passes the more good days I have and the less bad days. There's enough distraction with this job. Sometimes I don't think of her for a rather long while but then something comes up – a word, a phrase she used – and it feels just as if I had lost her only yesterday. As if she was just about to walk through that door."

Vala nodded. "And there I am showing you that darn picture!"

"Oh, Vala, that's not your fault. In fact you're the person who made this day a good day for me! Thank you for that!"

"Daniel, I noticed you've been crying before I came into your room. I feel like this is partly my fault."

"Oh God, don't worry. I do that sometimes. It's… nothing."

Vala didn't want to say that she still worried but her eyes said it anyway.

"Vala, it may still hurt that I've lost her but I've accepted it. This is my past and I'm moving on from it. Slowly maybe, but forward!" he said and gave her a genuine smile.

"_Moving on _sounds good."

"Yes." Daniel shifted a bit closer towards her and rested his head on her shoulder.

They sat side by side and looked straight at the door. In a way Vala expected someone to enter his room uninvited or an alarm to go off – anything to spoil this precious moment. Nothing happened though.

"Daniel, I want you to know that whatever _moving on_ means to you I will… I mean… if you wanna… I… how do I say that?" she wished she hadn't started this sentence at all.

Daniel looked her in the eyes. He laid a hand on her cheek and smiled. "I know, Vala. I know."

"No, I don't think you know." she said, hoping he wouldn't take his hand away from where it was. "You've always believed in me. Well… okay, maybe not always but when I needed it the most you did. You stood behind me when nobody else did during these past two years and you cannot imagine how thankful I am. I'm sorry that I'm sometimes annoying, that I upset you with my little comments, with my flirting, with my… my presence-"

"Vala!" Daniel interrupted her. She was just about to continue her sentence when she suddenly felt his kiss. His lips were pressed against hers, his hand now burrowed into her hair. Bewilderment kept her from giving in to the kiss though. She just sat there fossilised which made Daniel stop. He looked at her confused. "Vala? I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

She kept still. Her lips were trembling with excitement till she finally regained her speech. "You've kissed me!"

Daniel laughed. "Yes! Yes, I did!"

"Is that the side-effects of the champagne?" She tried to cover her insecurity with humour but failed.

"I promise you it's not. But if you don't wanna do this-"

This time it was Vala who interrupted him. "I do! I want! I was just very surprised that you'd make a move."

"Watch me do it again!" he whispered smiling cheekily like a schoolboy and kissed her again and this time Vala kissed him back.

They've kept kissing till tiredness eventually became too strong and forced them to sleep and they would've slept through the whole day if it wasn't for Daniel's alarm that went off at 6:30.


End file.
